Scrapbooking: Tips for Your Photographs
Do you want to start a scrapbook? Whether that scrapbook is for your own personal enjoyment or a gift, you may be looking for some helpful tips. For tips that pertain to your photographs, please continue reading on.
All types of photographs can be used in a scrapbook. It doesn’t matter how old or new they are or whether they are from a film or digital camera. With that said, those who wish to enjoy scrapbooking as a hobby, are encouraged to buy a digital camera. In the end, it is a wise investment.
A digital camera allows you to take more pictures, but for less the cost. You can delete pictures that are blurry or those where your subject has the dreaded red eye, free of charge. When scrapbooking, you are urged against using original photographs. So, you are likely to order duplicates all of film prints, but what if you don’t use them all? You essentially wasted money.
A digital camera also allows you to get full use out of your pictures and your computer. Rarely to scrapbookers use a whole photo. Pictures are often cut and cropped. Why not just do this on your computer? With a photo editing software program, you can. With the right software, you can crop a photograph, zoom in or out, eliminate red eye, and do so much more.
Photo editing software programs are available for sale online, but they can also be found for free. One program that comes highly rated and recommended is that of Kodak Easy Share. In addition to cropping, zooming, and eliminating red eye, you can also turn your photographs into coloring pages or cartoons. These look neat inside a homemade scrapbook.
Next, it is recommended that you buy a good photo printer or upgrade your current computer printer. This allows you to print your digital photographs at home. Not only can it be cheaper overtime, but you get more freedom. As previously stated, a full size photograph is rarely used in a scrapbook. Do you want to fill a page with small pictures? If so, print wallet size photos instead.
As stated above, never use the original photograph in a scrapbook. This is very important if you rely on a film camera. Negatives are easy to lose, so do not rely on them as your only backup. For older pictures, scan the picture first. Not only do you create a backup on your computer, but you can print a new one for your scrapbook. If you do not own a scanner, many new printers are known as all-in-one systems, as you tend to get a printer, scanner, and fax machine in one.
Now that you know how to care for your photographs, as well as which ones to use for a scrapbook, you may be looking for additional tips. Scrapbooks come in a number of different formats. Yours will depend on your experience and theme. Although you can simply just glue a picture onto a page, write a caption and then call it a scrapbook, you have many options.
The first step you should take is sort your photographs. This is important if your scrapbook will highlight the life of someone special, such as a child or parent. In these instances, chorological order is nice. Sorting will prevent you from finding your child’s first haircut pictures after you already created a page for their kindergarten graduation.
Cardstock sheets are sold at many craft stores. These are thick colored sheets of paper. Most are small in size, but perfect for photographs. You can glue a picture to a cardstock sheet, creating a background. You can also use scissors to create a border for your picture.
As previously stated, it is rare for a full photograph to be used in a scrapbook. The exception for this tends to be close-ups. Eliminating unnecessary background can improve the quality of your scrapbook.
Finally, it is important to not get too caught up in the quality of your scrapbook. Unfortunately, this is what many beginners do. Remember, homemade projects aren’t supposed to be perfect.